Oracle ic4
Summary
I recently went through a technical screen at Oracle for an IC4 role, which I unfortunately failed. The interview was heavily focused on system design and behavioral questions rather than traditional data structures and algorithms.
Full Experience
I recently experienced a technical screen at Oracle for an IC4 position, and unfortunately, it didn't go as planned, leading to me bombing it. This interview notably leaned more towards system design and behavioral aspects than the typical LeetCode-style DSA problems I might have expected.
The session kicked off with a series of STAR method behavioral questions. I was asked to describe a time when I made a significant mistake and how I went about fixing it. We also discussed the technologies and frameworks I typically use, with an emphasis on highlighting specific frameworks. Another behavioral question prompted me to recall a situation where I was working on something I initially didn't understand at all, and how I managed to overcome that challenge to complete the task.
The technical portion, administered via HackerRank, consisted of two main problems. The first task was to design a server scheduler. I was given a server and an end time for a task, and my implementation needed to return a signal indicating whether the job could or could not be run. The second question built directly on the first, extending the scenario to include multiple servers with dependencies. This problem was explicitly described as similar to the 'Course Scheduler' problem found on LeetCode, strongly suggesting a solution involving a directed graph and Depth-First Search (DFS).
Interview Questions (4)
Describe a time when you made a mistake and explain how you fixed it.
Describe a time where you were working on something you didn't understand anything, and how you managed to overcome that challenge.
Design a server scheduler. You are given a server and an end time for a task, and the system should return something to indicate whether the job can or cannot be run.
This problem built on the single server scheduler, extending it to a scenario with multiple servers and task dependencies. It was explicitly compared to the LeetCode 'Course Scheduler' problem, suggesting a solution using a directed graph and DFS.